Shadows and Darkness
by Nimue5
Summary: The search for the shards is interrupted when Inuyasha and Kikyou make a deal that could change the whole adventure. What exactly did Inuyasha agree to? Why is he keeping it from Kagome? R+R
1. At the Well

Disclaimers: Don't own Inuyasha... grrrr...  
  
Hi! This is Nimue here! Please review my work, it's the only way I'll know to write more. And please include any criticsm so that I can improve.  
' - That means emphasis in a sentence or dialouge. It also means thinking.   
Gomen- Sorry Oshimatzu- if i spelled it correctly, it means 'shit'. Osuwari- Sit   
That should be all the Japanese I included in this chapter.   
Now! On wiiith the shooooow! ^O^  
*************************************  
  
Admittedly, it was not the best decision ever, but quite frankly, the fact that she was getting   
away with it pleased her very much indeed.   
  
They had been back at Kaede-bachan's for almost three days- three days in which she   
had done almost everything except beg Inuyasha to let her take a badly need return to the future.   
His continuous stubborn refusals were driving her over a shaking edge. Now she was finally fed   
up, and she would be damned if she couldn't go back to her home.   
  
"My home. 'My 'home', Inuyasha!" She gritted through tightly clenched teeth. "You act   
as if I belong 'here'!" She darted through the forest, now and again looking over her shoulder to   
see if he was following her; she kept her voice down anyway.   
  
'Inuyasha is going to throw one major fit if he finds me running away…again.' A   
small tingle of guilt flashed through her like a hot spotlight hitting an escapee in a prison break. 'I   
shouldn't even be feeling guilty for trying to return home. I have tests, I have family, I   
have homework, I have… ' Suddenly, she stopped. "What am I doing? Am I actually trying to   
explain myself to that… that arrogant bastard?" She shook her head violently. This was   
insanity. She really had been here too long.  
  
Pushing back a wild strand of bush that was straying, the Bone Eater's Well came into   
view, solitary and lonely while it sat in an open meadow, the old tall trees encircling it, keeping   
their distance as if they too knew the youkai bones thrown into the dry spring's depths. With   
another nervous glance about the open glade- this was probably the most exposed part of her   
journey, the easiest time for the hanyou to spot her- she sprinted out as fast as her legs could   
carry her. The world slipped around her, green and brown and black in the deep night, while   
the well loomed ever-growing in front of her. She was nearing it- nearing it- she reached out to   
touch the lip of the well, swinging herself over it-  
  
And hung there. Dangling over the eerie bottomless pit, her mouth dropped open.   
"Inuyasha. I will kill you," she said, catching a glimpse of vivid red out of the corner of her eye,   
a flash of his brilliant kimono. "I will 'osuwari' you until your back breaks!" She murmured in a   
dangerously calm voice, but squeaked with fright when his hold on her shook for a second and   
she realized what she had said.   
  
"Ahh, oshimatzu! Gomen, Inuyasha, but 'let me go'!"   
  
Inuyasha's figure emerged in front of her clearly, a tight glare plastered on his face.   
"That didn't help you one bit, wench," he growled at her, lifting her up easily and depositing her   
on the ground next to the well. He stood over her, shutting out the crescent moon's gleaming   
light, a formidable image in the darkness. "I did not say you could go back."  
  
Gathering herself up, she faced him, shooting up out of her clumsy position on the   
ground like a bat out of hell. Her narrowed eyes glittered perilously in the soft light, shadows   
and darkness veiling her expression. "Inuyasha, I need to return home." She said. "I haven't   
been there in over two weeks. You promised I could go back when we returned to Kaede-  
bachan's. So we're here, but 'I' shouldn't be!" Her voice hardened with determination. "You   
can't keep me here forever, Inuyasha."  
  
Silence.   
  
She watched him, her head tilted slightly down so he couldn't see her face, and peered   
up at him with diamond-hard eyes through her raven bangs. His eyes shimmered dully in the   
night, betraying the brightness she always saw in the morning hours. The long silver hair he   
never tied back shined the same way the moon did. But she couldn't see his face. The moon   
disappeared behind fast moving clouds and the shadows were playing too quickly   
  
When the stillness stretched on longer, her patience reached a brink and she opened her   
mouth angrily to say 'it'.   
  
"Kagome. Shut up."   
  
"Nani?!" She said, her voice peaking in boiling anger; her eyes widening in utter fury.   
The hands at her sides tightened into white-knuckled fists as one of them drew back to land him   
a punch in his stomach that would serve her anger far more than any simple 'osuwari' could.   
  
Abruptly, the moon reappeared, and all the curtains hiding Inuyasha's face were pulled   
away. He wasn't even looking at her, the damn hanyou! Instead, he was gazing stricken over   
her should- stricken? Unexpected fear paralyzed her, the feeling dropping her stomach to her   
knees.   
  
"…Inuyasha, nani-" Her voice dwindled into nothing when she turned around, following   
the hanyou's line of vision.   
  
And then, there were explosions of pain.   
  
Kagome was sitting on the ground after having reeled backward at the force of the blow,   
complacently gazing at her right shoulder from which an arrow shaft protruded. There was   
blood. There was a lot of blood, Kagome thought hazily. There was a lot of blood. And her   
right arm wouldn't move. So she tried her left one. There was a lot of blood. And it was   
getting all over her shirt. Hell, it was getting all over everything. There was really a lot of it.  
  
"Kikyou, get the hell out of here!"  
  
"I told you once already Inuyasha," sung a cool voice out of the darkness. But it didn't   
say exactly what it had told him. The deathly calmness of the words hung lazily in the dim air.  
  
Inuyasha was still standing there, above her and a little in front. So close, and even from   
within the sheen of pain that was clouding Kagome's vision, she could see his hand twitching   
toward the Tetsusaiga hanging at his hip. 'Inu… I-Inuyasha…'  
  
"If she moves again, I'll aim for the heart."  
  
Kagome froze like a deer that found itself in a sleeping lions' den, from where she had   
been slinking as subtly as she could toward the well. If she could only get there, if she could   
only make it to the shrine.   
  
Inuyasha snatched at glance back at Kagome, the piercing look of total anguish   
wrenching the breath from her shuddering chest. "Ka-"  
  
"Inuyasha." The voice demanded.  
  
Inuyasha flinched slightly, a mere twitch of one of his amber eyes.   
  
"Go." His mouth formed silently around that one word. Urgency flared in his eyes.   
"Go."  
  
"Inuyasha!" The voice ordered, this time with a trace of suspicion.  
  
Kagome's head moved in a resemblance of a nod, just before the time sped up again,   
seeming to want to make up for the infinite moments it had permitted before.  
  
Biting her lip against the pain, Kagome scrambled up and dashed the few feet to the   
well. Or she tried to. A gentle rushing behind her caught her ears, accompanied by a grunt, and   
she watched in shock when Inuyasha staggered back against the lip of the well with an arrow in   
his arm. An arrow Kagome realized had been meant for her heart.   
  
Inuyasha snapped his head over to look at her, frozen. "Why are you standing there   
bitch? Go!" He turned, while another arrow slashed by Kagome's cheek, grazing the skin,   
propelling her with his good arm head over heels into the Bone Eater's Well, and followed after   
her.  
  
"This isn't over yet, Kagome," reached a cool voice to her ears.  
  
************************  
  
Kagome landed roughly on her back, escorted home by a small rush of dirt and dust.   
The world exploded again and she instinctively curled up, her good left hand curling cautiously   
around the arrow shaft in her shoulder. A painful gasp left her mouth before she shuddered,   
feeling the blood in her body running down the arrow, running down her hand.   
  
A warm, wet and clawed hand covered her own, causing Kagome's eyes to snap open.   
Her brain registered Inuyasha's presence but didn't pursue the line of thought when he ripped   
the arrow out of her arm.   
  
She couldn't prevent the scream.  
  
Or the tears.  
  
Or the curses.  
  
But she probably could have prevented the blow.  
  
Either way, the left-handed punch sent Inuyasha for a short trip backwards, onto his   
rear. She laughed, seeing Inuyasha's arm trailing blood too, but the arrow was missing. Had he   
pulled the thing out himself? What an idiot, to do- to- to… There was still a lot of blood on   
her… Her shirt… and her a-ar- and her shirt… Some on her hand too. It was- was… really   
kinda…  
  
Really kinda funny.  
  
She poked Inuyasha in his shoulder, just above the wound and watched his face, here   
eyes narrowed doubtfully. "Hey! Hey, You. Oi! You, ha-hanyou." She said to him when he   
took her in his arms and leaped out of the well. "I'm… talking to You. You said... you   
promised… you…'d…. pro-pro-pro… you know. Well," she asked him. It was night here   
too, his face yet again hidden by the shadows and his hair hanging into his face. It tickled her,   
but she didn't let it distract her, this idea was the one sure thingy one sure clear thingy in her   
mind. "Well?" she prodded him again, seeing movement in his face at this. Her head lolled   
back. The were moving pretty fast, like this guy had a mission. The stars were radiant, dazzling,   
they filled the sky, like jewels in a woman's hair, the moon her most special decoration. But   
they were bright, getting shinier, making her eyes water at the light. Her poking hand shoved   
him with as much force as she could muster, thinking back to her thought. "Well? What do   
You have to say for Yourself?" she demanded, as much to the moon and stars as to the hanyou.   
Then her bright eyes died, and her good hand slipped slowly down his shirt, falling limply into   
her lap.  
  
The stars twinkled past them, watching solemnly. The hanyou had found the human's   
mother. She was inside the kitchen. He just had to- to step in and they could fix her.   
  
He whispered it to her hair, to the stars, and to the glittering moon, "… I'm sorry,   
Kagome." 


	2. Undercurrents

Disclaimer: Ya ya, you all just gotta make us admit it. Well then, if I have to: Inuyasha and Company are not mine.   
  
Hi y'all! It's Nimue again! Thanx to you people who have reviewed, I appreciate everything you guys say! Well, enjoy the story, k? And don't forget to R+R, ONEGAI!  
  
Itoshigo- dear child Chotto matte- wait a moment Iie- no Hai- yes Sakura- cherry blossom(s) Doko- where Onegai- please  
  
Chapter 2: Undercurrents  
  
Inuyasha stood unmoving before the Hirgurashi door, torn in half inside his mind. This time, it was truly his fault Kagome had been hurt; could he bear the faces beyond this door? Could he face Souta and Kagome's mother and grandfather after having failed to protect his charge? His hands trembled slightly, more from indecision than from the pain he felt in his arm. After all, he could already feel the tendons, muscles, and skin healing beneath his haori.   
  
He looked down at the girl he was cradling in his arms, the blood on her shirt and shoulder blackening. Speckles of it dotted her face. Her face. The same face on two different women… two completely different women. One who lived and one who pretended to live. One who gave life while the other took it. It was- it was…  
  
Light blinded Inuyasha's delicate senses for a moment when Souta opened the door. Before he had time to shake the aftershock out of his eyes, he heard a rising cry of "ONE-CHAN!"  
  
"No! No! Souta, chotto matte! Chotto-"Inuyasha's plea was cut off as Higurashi-san rushed to Souta's side. The color drained completely from the woman's face when she saw her daughter in Inuyasha's arms, and the bloody evidence.   
  
Inuyasha's only movement was to gently place the unconscious Kagome in her mother's stunned arms. "Higurashi-san. Kagome was hurt while fighting a you-"His voice crackled slightly, but he continued, "a youkai… Please," He hesitated. "I have to return. There are others still in danger." The latter was said with such a growl even Souta shrank back from his hero Inuyasha.   
  
And then he was gone in the night, as swift as the hunting wolf.  
  
Mrs. Figurate looked down at her son.   
  
"Souta. Run and get Grandfather."  
  
***  
  
Inuyasha stormed through the shrine grounds, racing to the Bone Eater's Well, pausing only a moment to take a fleeting look at Kagome's house, trying to penetrate the walls to see the girl he had left behind, wounded and unconscious, in the care of humans. But it was only a moment, before he had hurdled over the well, and landed. The over-powering scent of human that heralded Kagome's future was fainter here; instead the stinging heady scent of blood stabbed his nose. Inuyasha leaped, clearing the well and sniffed the air. Would she still be here, waiting for him? His eyes scanned the tree-line suspiciously.  
  
But the answer was already waiting for him. Kikyou's tightly drawn arrow nicked the back of his neck, startling Inuyasha. "Ahh Inuyasha. So you still came, even after that… interference." The silk voice sounded right behind him.   
  
Inuyasha's face hardened, if stone could harden. He began to turn, but the increased pressure on his neck warned him against continuing. Kikyou's voice flowed on as if the undercurrents to their conversation never occurred.   
  
"You show a surprising amount of preservation instincts toward that girl, Inuyasha. I'm surprised you still would even bother seeing me-"The river wavered, just slightly. Inuyasha stood face to face with her.   
  
The dead woman's eyes narrowed inscrutably. "I asked you to leave her out of this, Kikyou." Inuyasha said softly, but with a vein of granite in his tone.   
  
"I think you bring her 'into' this."  
  
The hanyou flinched.  
  
The bow relaxed, but Kikyou's face shifted while the clouds passed overhead. "Do you remember the sakura tree, Inuyasha?" She asked quietly.  
  
"The beginning of spring, I had been chased out of the town of Kurogashi a few weeks earlier and we were going to celebrate the blossoms…" He said automatically, as if it he had lived the moment over in a million lifetimes, instead of just one.  
  
"Ahh, you 'do' remember." Kikyou's mouth curved upward. It wasn't a smile; it couldn't ever be called a smile, that insignificant crease in her mouth. Kagome smiled, and when she did it was like the sun had defeated the clouds on a rainy day when-  
  
"Of course I remember," he growled angrily, pulling away from her. Somehow, without him noticing, her hand found his cheek.  
  
The change that had taken over her face with that half-smile that never touched her eyes melted away like a watery mask. Faintly, in the gloom, Kikyou's hand found a new hold on her bow while her voice came silky and cool. "Inuyasha- tell me you haven't forgotten, then, what we-"  
  
"Kikyou, the only reason I came tonight was to tell you that the deal is off."  
  
The hand on her bow became white-knuckled.   
  
The hanyou wasn't looking at her, but his eyes had dropped to the ground, and rose slowly, coming to a rest on her lips. He didn't even know if he could look at this Kikyou's eyes when the sakura had brought him a Kikyou with sparkling life and energy.   
  
Seeing him so hesitant, the grip unloosened, and her hand wandered again to his face. He jerked back, but didn't break the contact. "…Inu-"  
  
A scream cut the air like a knife through warm butter. Inuyasha's hand flew to the Tetsusaiga, Kikyou's eyes blazed as she turned east, feeling with her miko powers the presence of a youkai. Close. Closer than Inuyasha would have thought possible while he was near. Shamefully, his eyes flickered toward the woman at his side; Kikyou could make him forget about death itself.  
  
"It's the town," he said quietly. "Kaede-baba and the others are in trouble."   
  
Kikyou pressed a hand on his arm to stop him, "Chotto, Sango and Miroku are perfectly capable of dealing with whatever is attacking, Inuyasha."  
  
The hanyou's jaw clenched. "Iie."  
  
Her black, dead eyes glared at him, eternally condemning him. "Never for me."  
  
His growl was outright this time. "Never for anyone, Kikyou." He bounded off, a blur through the deep forest, the growing light accenting his silver hair.   
  
Kikyou watched him, her eyes becoming snake-like slits, before she turned in the opposite direction, calling silently to her soul-gatherers.  
  
***  
  
Kagome…  
Come back to us…  
…Kagome!  
  
Morning sunlight, dull and grey for some reason, made criss-cross patterns on the sleeping girl's face, stoking consciousness in her comatose mind. Oh, awareness came, but too quickly, always too quickly. And brought with it far too much pain.   
  
There was a hand on her face, though, always when she felt wakefulness creeping on her and bringing the pain, always there, always there to stroke her face. Calm and cool.  
  
Calm and cool.  
  
"Inuyasha?"  
  
Pause.  
  
"Iie." Softly. Soft and gentle, as the returning caress on her forehead, the tender brushing of hair away from eyes.  
  
Kagome sighed. "Mama."  
  
"Hai."  
  
She was tripping again, back into the darkness, into the oblivion where she could be safe from pain and pain and…  
  
"…Inuyasha… Doko…"  
  
Kagome…  
Please… Don't leave us…  
…Kagome!  
  
Sweat was pouring down her face, soaking through her clothes, droplets splashing away from her face when her eyes snapped open. Panting, she looked around her, for the first time coherent. Initial panic and unfamiliarity dissolved as she recognized her desk in the corner of her room, her window, the bed she was laying in. The mechanical release of tension brought pain in her hands, and she saw her fingernails had been pressing into the skin of her palm, cutting through it. Gasping, she retracted her digits, wiping the four small puncture wounds on her covers, forgetting how difficult she knew it was to remove blood from cloth.   
  
She winced, sliding her feet off her bed carefully so that she had moved into a sitting position. The light streaming through her windows was bright enough, but dull, as though being served through a filter. The second thing she noticed was the quiet. Except, it really wasn't quiet while the traffic outside provided a constant throb of noise; it seemed so different from what she was used to. It was so different from-  
  
Kagome exhaled a slow, long breath while she reconfigured her life to fit what she knew about feudal Japan and an arrogant bastard hanyou named Inuyasha with going to school and friends.   
  
"Oooshitmatzuuu- oooow…" She groaned, flopping onto her back with such exasperation before it turned into pain that stabbed her brutally in the general region of her shoulder. Cursing under her breath, she fumbled with her shirt, pulling it down far enough to peer at the injury over her nose. What she saw made her curse a little louder.  
  
"At least you still 'have' that arm, itoshigo."  
  
Kagome would not have jumped higher if there were hot coals burning in her pants. "Aya! Mama, onegai, tell me before you scare the rest of the wits out of my brain," Kagome half-joked, half-growled.  
  
However, Mrs. Higurashi did not smile indulgently and instead remained resting against the doorframe, her face an unreadable puzzle. The room was practically humming with exuded tension when Kagome glanced up at her mother. She was still staring at Kagome like a cat with her fur out of line. Kagome blinked warily, then pushed herself up, unsteady on her own feet, but determined. Wobbling, Kagome perambulated toward the small bag resting at the foot of her bed.  
  
"Kagome." The tone in her mother's voice stopped her in her tracks and compelled her to turn, to confront the face from whence the voice came.  
  
"Mama?"  
  
"I've decided."  
  
"…Mama?"  
  
"You're not going back." 


	3. How the Other Side Lives

Disclaimer: *takes Inuyasha and Friends out of her toy box* Wee hehe!   
Look out Inuyasha, it's another youkai... after the Shikon no Kakara...   
again... Ack! Duck, Kagome, it's Kikyou, with PMS!! Oh, wait, I forgot,   
she's DEAD!! BWA HAHAHAHAH... o.O... *sigh* *puts the figures back into her   
box*... Are you sure I can't keep Inuyasha??? I'll keep 'really' good   
care of him, I promise, tehe... heh... Grr, FINE! *puts the poor hanyou   
back* Inuyasha and Co. aren't mine. I just like to toy with them.   
  
Yo, all! Wasabi! Hurray, I love getting reviews, makes me feel all warm   
and gooshy inside. Yuck. ^-~ ...But really, keep sending them in,   
onegai! ^-^ Okieday, here's some more story!  
  
Sorry I haven't update in a while, that normally wouldn't happen, but   
since I wasn't seeing much support for the story (besides you guys that   
review! 'Love y'all!) so I didn't think much for writing more... But I   
won't disappoint you people that *are* reading, so here you go! This   
story has a lot of places I want it to go, but it might take it a while,   
so hope you enjoy the ride.  
  
Domo arigatou- thank you.  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
"Sango! Miroku!" Inuyasha landed with a 'thump' just outside the   
village with the Tetsusaiga transformed between both of his tight   
clawed hands. "...Shippou!" He looked around, frantically, trying to   
spot his comrades amongst the fleeing village people that swarmed   
around him like ants. Growling, he tried to jostle his way through   
them, but in their panic they weren't even paying attention to the   
angry hanyou. Frustration, anger, and strain all near the boiling   
point from the night's proceedings, reached a lightly controlled   
explosion. With a fierce growl rumbling threateningly in his chest,   
the hanyou resorted to shoving the hysteric townsmen in front of him to   
the ground and leaped up and over the masses. They were all flooding   
into the forest Kaede-baba so appropriately named after him; caught   
between a rampant youkai and a haunted forest, they seemed to have no   
qualms choosing the unknown.   
  
Inuyasha saw the Hiraikotsu slicing through the air, and twisted   
in the air toward that direction. His eyes caught on the youkai   
exterminator in full uniform, and the monk Miroku with his staff   
reflecting the growing sunlight. They were both facing him, they're   
mouths open as though to shout something at him, but even with his   
hanyou ears it was impossible to make out that they were shouting about   
some leopard youk-  
  
The sickening tearing sound that his shoulder made when the   
enormous cat ripped its claws through his already injured skin made   
Inuyasha's eyes glaze over. He could feel the muscles in the animal's   
paw flexing as it gouged four perfect streaks deeper into his body,   
scraping against bone. Fiery pain so cutting ripped through his body   
like a hammer and Inuyasha fell to the ground. Gasping for air, the   
world turned into a black void, the only sensations were slow coming;   
phantasmal hands running over his body, and then slowly, slowly, a   
feminine voice piercing through his haze. "Miroku, Inuyasha has been   
hurt badly-"   
  
The voice cut off abruptly when a trail of bloody speckled silver   
hair trailed across Sango's lips. Tetsusaiga drawn and transformed in   
one hand, the other swinging limply, Inuyasha streaked past her like a   
fireball, slicing at the youkai. Even with a useless arm, the matter   
with the youkai was over in minutes once Inuyasha had the beast in his   
sights. With the carcass heaving last breaths before him, Inuyasha   
finally recognized Sango and Miroku's presence. "Sango, what the hell   
was it after?"  
  
"What do you think, Inuyasha? It came screaming about the Shikon   
no Tama, we didn't sense it until it was within the center of town."   
Sango's cheeks pinked slightly. Sliding the katana into the sheath,   
Inuyasha gingerly moved his injured shoulder, testing the damage; the   
crimson blood was matting through his haori. A finger gently touched   
the spot. He winced at the soft contact.  
  
"You've been badly injured, Inuyasha. Even you might require   
some care for an injury of this kind."  
  
Inuyasha brushed the criticism away with a rough, "Keh. It's   
nothing, houshi." His eyes were busy taking in the damage. The town   
was badly damaged, many houses crumbled. A dribble of villagers   
returned to the town like frightened cattle after thunder and lightning,   
surveying the damage with blank faces, some of the women were crying   
next to twisted red stained figures lying unmoving on the ground.  
  
Sango moved next to them, her eyes scanning the surroundings,   
pity shining dully before she turned her gaze on the hanyou. Her eyes   
dropped to the wound on his shoulder that was trailing blood   
tantalizingly down his arm and dripping into the dirt, before whipping   
to his face. For the first time, fear was unmasked on her face.   
"Inuyasha, Kagome was missing when the youkai came from her bedroll,   
and throughout the fight we..." Sango trailed off as she studied his face.   
  
On the other side of Inuyasha, Miroku shifted as if nervous, "...We   
don't know where she is," he finished.   
  
"She went back to the well. I let her."   
  
Miroku blinked. "You let her return to the well, Inuyasha?"  
  
Inuyasha rounded on him with a low growl. "Why's that so hard to   
believe, houshi-sama?" He twisted the last words in his mouth   
sarcastically, glaring at the priest and strode away toward the carcass,   
searching for the Shikon shard he knew was somewhere within.  
  
Twisting his staff with a slight jingle, Miroku's eyebrows rose   
minutely, allowing his gaze to flicker to Sango just long enough to   
share a puzzled glance. "No reason." Miroku let the topic drop with a   
pointed silence until Sango diplomatically broke it as Inuyasha's   
mumbled curses grew louder while he fumbled with the pieces of flesh,   
flinging them in every direction (much to the repulsion of the on   
looking bystanders). "Ah, I told Shippou to guide some of the   
villagers into the forest to get them out of our way. He'll be waiting   
for me." Sango exchanged one last worried glance with Miroku before   
hustling off with Kirara in tow.   
  
"Fuck it!" Inuyasha cursed loudly.  
  
"It would be nearly impossible to find the shard without a miko's   
powers, Inuyasha."  
  
Inuyasha raised his head and narrowed his amber eyes. "Ah, so you   
lived through the fight, old hag?" He retracted bloodied claws from a   
lump of shredded flesh.  
  
Kaede-baba wisely ignored Inuyasha's bait. She tottered to the   
leopard-youkai's carcass. "This beast has no Shikon shards within it   
already, Inuyasha, but if Kagome was here, she could tell you that."  
  
"Well, she's not, crone!" Inuyasha growled, more harshly than he   
intended. 'Please, Kagome, be okay. Be okay so that you can come back.'   
  
Kaede's watchful look lasted so long on Inuyasha that it almost   
became an uncomfortable stare before she broke it off to review the   
devastation around her. A short distance away, Miroku was helping a   
maiden walk. Inuyasha couldn't help but note in disgust how Miroku's   
hand on her back was inching its way down the young woman's backside.   
"I think there are more dangerous presences about, still, Inuyasha. I   
felt something abound just outside the village... this morning, before   
this leopard appeared."   
  
His insides froze for a second before he gave a loud, "Keh.   
You're miko powers are weak, Kaede-baba. You couldn't even give enough   
warning to save this town from the youkai."  
  
"I still am strong enough to know a presence of that sort.   
Inuyasha. And, and where is Kagome, hanyou?"  
  
Inuyasha's insides twisted.   
  
"She went back to her own time," he said gruffly. With a twinge   
of worry, he looked over his shoulder to the forest, trying to pierce   
the trees and the well and find her!   
  
Kaede nodded sagely, as if she expected the answer. "She will be   
upset to find the town like this."  
  
"Then maybe you ought to get to fucking work on it and she won't   
have to find it like this, hag!"  
  
"Especially with the sakura in bloom so soon."  
  
A chill passed over Inuyasha, a waterfall against sweating skin   
on a hot day.   
  
"It will be a shame to miss the festival this year, but I fear we   
will be too busy rebuilding. Don't I recall you once saying you   
enjoyed this time of the year as well, or was that just my ancient mind   
playing tricks on me, Inuyasha?"  
  
"Why would I fucking like fucking flowers, you hag."   
  
Inuyasha took off without bothering with pleasantries, toward the   
spring that was nearby the town. Kagome always used to go there, as   
obsessed as she was with hygiene- it had to be some female thing- and   
he had watched her walk there often enough. He had to get this youkai   
blood off him; he had to clean his own wounds too.   
  
A small sobbing girl reached out a tiny hand toward him as he   
passed by, her leg trapped under a piece of housing that had fallen on   
her during the battle. No one was paying any attention to her, until   
Inuyasha realized she wasn't actually making any noise, just silently   
crying and stretching her arm out to him. She was mute. No one would   
even notice her, amid the confusion. Silently mourning the girl's   
grave condition, and her inevitable future (a girl who could not speak   
could not live long in a world of youkai), Inuyasha pulled the child   
out of the wreckage. Pressing her face into his cheek, her tears were   
cold against his skin. When her mouth, pushed forcefully into his   
cheek, began to move, Inuyasha gave a start. Trying to disentangle her   
from around his neck, she gripped his haori tighter, moving her mouth   
slower and harder.   
  
His mouth fell open when he realized she was forming two distinct   
words against his skin, speaking in an impossible way to him. Domo.   
Arigatou.  
  
Feeling he had recognized her message, the girl suddenly let go   
of him, and hobbled toward Kaede-baba, favoring her left leg. Inuyasha   
watched her for a minute before jerking awake and looking suspiciously   
around, returning to his disgruntled status before the little girl.   
  
Satisfied no one had seen him, Inuyasha made his way to the   
forest. He had to be alone. He had to think.  
***  
  
"You're sure you saw Kikyou? You're positive it wasn't Kagome,   
Shippou?"  
  
Shippou gave Sango a withering look. "Unless Kagome suddenly   
became an evil Kikyou-cross dresser within the last couple of days I'm   
sure it was her." His little face creased with worry. "Why would it   
be Kagome, Sango? Kagome was in her bedroll, right? Kaede-baba told   
us to be extra careful about her with Kikyou around."  
  
Blood flowed from her cracked lip at the merciless gnawing of her   
teeth. "Yes... Yes, she told us Kagome could be in danger from Kikyou.   
But, Kagome wasn't in her bedroll this morning." Villagers were still   
passing back through the forest, returning to the tragic sight of their   
town. Shippou had guided them to safety, herding them incidentally   
around the Bone Eater's Well.   
  
Shippou's fear escalated into full-fledged alarm. "Kagome wasn't   
asleep? What- what- where is she now?"  
  
Sango raised an eyebrow. "She went back into the well this   
morning. Inuyasha let her," she said slowly, as though still pondering   
the hidden meaning behinds those words.  
  
"Inuyasha doesn't let Kagome go back to her time." Shippou said   
matter-of-factly. "Kagome escapes and then Inuyasha gets mad, or Kagome   
bullies Inuyasha into letting her."   
  
"That's why I'm worried." What does Kikyou want with Kagome this   
time?   
  
Shippou took on a puzzled look. "Before all the humans got here,   
Sango, I thought I smelled blood around the well. I- I," Shippou   
hesitated. "I thought it was Kagome's blood for a minute, but then   
everyone was rushing around and I couldn't smell anything straight."  
  
"You were probably just smelling the injuries of the townspeople,   
Shippou-chan, a lot of them were hurt by the leopard youkai before we   
could get them out."  
  
"Sango, don't you think Miroku was surprised by the youkai?   
Can't he normally sense them when they get so close?"  
  
"Shippou, go help that lady up! She's bleeding terribly! ...No, no,   
let us help you, he's not a youkai, if you know what I mean. Please,   
you're badly wounded... A little child, mute? Okay, yes, I'll go try to   
find her..." 


End file.
